Hello,
I have 1983 F-150 4x4 all stock as it came from the factory.
The issue I have is with the break calipers I purchased from O'reilly's the other day.
They are not the same as the calipers I removed from my truck.

Let me start by describing the factory calipers.

Thay are not like the calipers on a 2 wheel drive that are
held in place with 2 diamond shaped keys made of stamped
steel with rubber sandwitched in between.
The calipers I removed from my truck are held in place with
what I would call "h" shaped wedge and a spring type piece
of steel that clips to the bottom of the wedge.
This wedge and spring fits between the bottom of the caliper
and the steering knuckle , it is a close fit and has to be
tapped in with a hammer.
The wedge is locked into place by a bolt that secures it to
the lower part of the knuckle.

Now for the calipers I bought from O'reilly's

Every thing on these calipers visually appeared to be the
same except that the bleeder fitting was in the wrong place.
It is in the upper front part of the caliper. On the original
caliper it was on the lower rear.
Now when I tried to installed these calipers I could not get
the wedge and the spring clip to fit. No matter how I positioned
the wedge with the clip it wouldn't work.
To make it fit I had to leave off the spring clip. The wedge
would go in but it seemed it was a little tighter than before.
After I installed the calipers I installed the break lines. . . everything
else fit as it should.

Did I install the wrong calipers ?
I looked up the calipers for my truck on the O'reilly's web
site and it showed the same part # as the ones they sold me.

Sorry for the long post but I tried to describe my problem
as accruately as possible.

Thanks,
Keith

 

sounds like you got the 87+ i ran into this problem when i fit my new calipers to the 88 front suspension that i fitted onto my 83

 

They are "brakes" not "breaks"......

 

AMEN brotha

 

I knew Stosh wouldn't let this one go..

 

Just like "bumber" instead of "bumper".....

 

The rubber style pieces go on a later style setup.

I ran into this problem when I first did the brakes on my 80. What I found out you have to do is slide the caliper on, and then heave-ho it up into the upper part of the bracket, and wiggle it around a little bit, and while holding it up, slide the "H" piece in at the same time. If you let the caliper fall down, it gets into a weird position that will not let the "H" piece go in.

The bleeders must be on top. This is a rule for all cars and trucks, front discs, or rear wheel cylinders. You will never get the brakes bled if the bleeder is on the bottom.

 

are you sure you got the right SIDE?

the bleed screw will ALWAYS be up. always always.

 

The calipers with sandwiched rubber key are for a 1986 and later F150. They are a close but not exact fit for earlier trucks.

My 1986 F150 has the earlier style caliper while O'Reilly's computer said that I should be using the newer style. Either Ford had some 1985 parts in inventory when they built my truck, or the front and was replaced with pre-1986 parts. (Difficult to track on a 24 year old truck.)

Did you exchange the newer style calipers for the older style?

"Now when I tried to installed these calipers I could not get the wedge and the spring clip to fit. No matter how I positioned the wedge with the clip it wouldn't work. To make it fit I had to leave off the spring clip."

I agree with Franklin that the spring clip will fit if you use the correct calipers.

 

Hey evreyon,
Tanks for the repleys !!! It 's greta to see a web comunty like the "Ford Truk Enthusasts Fourm" giev that litle extra atention to answr a questione frome a membr.

But seriously thanks,
I looked at that post before I submitted it and said to myself something just dosn't look right. . . It just never registered.
As for the bleeder screw I was going by what I thought I saw in my 83 Truck Shop Manual I must of been looking at the manual upside down. LOL

4caster the answer to your question is I guess I did. . .I'm replacing the brakes on my truck everything from the rear drum to the front disk's including the booster and master cylinder. I took the old calipers to O'reilly's to save on the core charge and brought home what I have now.

Franklin2 with the calipers I brought home from O'reilly's I can get the "H" piece in with no problem I just cant get the "H" piece with the spring clip attached to go in.

I'll go back to O'reilly's and see if we can work this problem out.

Thanks again everybody,
Keith

 

are you trying to get the outer 'lip' of the lower edge (toward the rear, not top) INSIDE the slight ridge of the 'h'? If so - not gonna work.

EVERYTHING goes under the lip.

and while you are at it, clean the crap off the spindle mounts.

 

The "H" piece with the spring won't slide in with your finger, but light taps with a hammer should slide it right in. If you have to really hit it hard with a hammer, something is not right.

 

taps with a lucite hammer - its very soft and will deform under the blows from a hammer then it wont do jack....

 

I sorta ran into this prob with my moms explorer she went to the store bought 01 ford explorer v6 front brake pads brings them to my house so im trying for over an hour to get these on and they will not go.

Go back to the store and tell them they wont work so he asks me to start over what vehicle are they for.

2001 ford explorer "SPORT" that was the difference she has a sport but didnt tell the guy so he gave her the regular explorer pads and who would have thought they would be different.

Got back took me 10 mins per side to finish the job.

 

That's why it's always a good idea to match up the new stuff with the old ones BEFORE you try and install them.